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The United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea ('UNCLOS') is hailed as one of the most significant multilateral legal agreements executed in the past few decades. However, its shortcomings are neither trivial nor inconsequential, especially regarding maritime boundary disputes involving hydrocarbon resources. This monograph examines the relationship between UNCLOS and maritime boundaries in five non-polar regions, encompassing almost 90% of global unresolved disputes involving offshore hydrocarbon development. The regions, which include the eastern Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, northeast Asia, and the South China Sea, were chosen for their oil and gas resources potential and recent military skirmishes that have the potential to lead to wider regional confrontations. The book addresses each region's maritime boundary status in the context of specific articles within UNCLOS that have been exploited by disputing states to justify their overlapping claims. The history and future applicability of multilateral Joint Development Area agreements for each region are evaluated for their potential to provide a cooperative solution to resolve ongoing tensions. Highlighting the limitations of current 'gun-boat' diplomacy, the monograph makes practical suggestions for new paradigms for resolving outstanding disputes, promoting lasting peace and generating economic benefits resulting from resource development.
List of contents
1.Survey of the Law of the Sea in Relation to Hydrocarbon Exploitation Activities2.Dispute Resolution Procedures within UNCLOS3.Eastern Mediterranean Focal Region4.Caspian Sea Focal Region5.Northeast Asia Focal Region6.South China Sea Focal Region7.Persian Gulf Focal Region8.Observations and Conclusions
About the author
Vivek Chandra is a natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) entrepreneur with over 30 years of global technical, commercial, financial, and project development experience. Dr. Chandra is the author of Fundamentals of Natural Gas: An International Perspective, a hardcover book currently in its second edition, and has degrees in Geophysical Engineering (Colorado School of Mines), Energy Management (U. of Pennsylvania), Petroleum Economics (IFP France), Commercial Law (Deakin University Australia) and a Ph.D. in International Law with dissertation on disputed international maritime boundaries (Deakin University Australia).
Summary
The United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (‘UNCLOS’) is hailed as one of the most significant multilateral legal agreements executed in the past few decades. However, its shortcomings are neither trivial nor inconsequential, especially regarding maritime boundary disputes involving hydrocarbon resources.
